Calvary Chapel San Jose v. Santa Clara County
- Vince Chhabria
- 3:23-cv-04277
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Calvary Chapel San Jose v. Santa Clara County, Judge Chhabria denied lifting the stay because a related state case bears on the federal claims.
Calvary Chapel San Jose and the other plaintiffs, Santa Clara County and the other defendants, and the ongoing federal case.
What happened
Calvary Chapel San Jose v. Santa Clara County concerns whether the federal case should continue while a related state-court case is pending. Calvary Chapel asked the court to lift the stay.
The court said the state-court case bears on this case because Calvary Chapel has argued in both proceedings that Santa Clara County violated its First Amendment rights. In the federal case, Calvary Chapel alleges that the County surveilled it to gather evidence for an enforcement action.
Judge Vince Chhabria denied the motion to lift the stay. The case will remain stayed until the state-court case is resolved.
The detailed version
- Calvary Chapel San Jose v. Santa Clara County · No. 3:23-cv-04277
- Vince Chhabria
- Apr. 17, 2025
Background
Calvary Chapel San Jose and other plaintiffs moved to lift a stay in their federal case against Santa Clara County and other defendants. The court had previously ordered that the case remain stayed pending adjudication of a related state-court case.
Court’s reasoning
The court explained that a district court may stay a case while related proceedings that “bear upon the case” are resolved, even when those proceedings do not necessarily control the federal action. The court found that the state-court case bears on this one because Calvary Chapel has repeatedly argued there that the County’s public health orders and enforcement of those orders violated the First Amendment. In this federal case, Calvary Chapel similarly asserts that the County violated its First Amendment rights by surveilling the church to gather evidence for that enforcement action. The court concluded that keeping the federal case stayed would be more efficient until the state case is resolved.
Disposition
Judge Vince Chhabria denied the motion to lift the stay. The case will remain stayed pending adjudication of the state-court case.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.